From Rap To Jam-Rock, Rebelskamp Can’t Stop Freestyling

The strangest moment occurred at a show where Tony Danza appeared on one of the TVs during a show. The band broke into a goofy rendition of Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer,” only instead they sang “Who’s the boss? It’s Tony Danza.”

Extreme adaptability has been a motto since before their first show in 2010. Originally the group got together in Littlewood’s garage just to jam. When she moved (and no longer had a garage) they decided to start playing shows, every Monday at Johnny V’s. The Metro listed their first shows as open mic nights, so people showed up with instruments, ready to jam with the band. It wasn’t what Rebelskamp planned, but they went with it, letting everyone jam with them. That is, until a tap dancer tried to freestyle with them.

“He tapped his ass right off stage,” Willikers says.

After a while, they decided to gig elsewhere and to not invite the audience to play along. But each set continues to be different because of the countless different environmental factors that they aren’t even aware of when they’re playing. Fortunately all the shows are recorded so they can listen back.

“Every session takes you back to that moment. We were basically taking in what was happening and recording an audio version with music incorporated and not knowing it,” says Willikers. “We were just jamming.”

Rebelskamp performs at Art Ark Gallery in San Jose on Friday, March 2, as part of South First Fridays’ Artwalk. 9pm; free They also perform every first Saturday of the month at Caffe Frascati in San Jose.